The Books of the South, by Glen Cook

Some of you may remember years and years ago when I reviewed a book called The Chronicles of the Black Company. This was a book that was pitched to me as kind of like Lord of the Rings but told from the bad guys' side, which I thought would be pretty interesting. If you remember my review, or have just checked that helpful link, you may also recall that while I liked the characters and the setting I had some issues with Cook's writing and a huge problem with Cook telling instead of showing. So while there were parts I enjoyed, it's a little understandable that I was hesitant to come back to the series.

Returning to the series some two and a half or three years later does come with downsides, such as forgetting certain specific details in the narrative. I remembered the broader, important details, but I was unfortunately a little hazy on some other things. So I did have to spend some time reorienting myself, but once I had my feet under me I was happy to be tagging along with Croaker, Lady, Goblin, One-eye and the rest of the gang.

This is actually an anthology of three books, although I think the anthology title is a misnomer because the last book, The Silver Spike, takes place entirely in the north and exists almost independent of the other books so it's a little weird. The first two books follow the Black Company as it heads south, on Croaker's mission to return to the city of Khatovar. Along the way the handful of survivors start rebuilding the Black Company and discovering details about the Company's history. Much to Croaker's frustration, details about Khatovar and the very early days of the Company are frustratingly scarce.

As they head south, the Black Company discovers their way is blocked by mysterious figures known as the Shadowmasters, who seem to have an existing grudge against the Black Company. If they wish to get to Khatovar, the Black Company will have to help the inhabitants of Taglios drive off the Shadowmasters once and for all.

The Silver Spike by contrast deals with characters such as Raven, Silent, and Darling, who were associated with the Company but went their own ways. This book takes place mostly in the north where the Lady's old empire is still running along, despite her absence. The book focuses on the silver spike in which much of the Dominator's power was sealed and then placed within a tree to hopefully keep it sealed for all eternity. Unfortunately some people get the bright idea to steal the spike and a race among every two-bit wizard in the northlands who wants to get their hands on the spike, along with people who want to keep the Dominator's power from being unleashed, turns into a major war. After the plot of the Company in the south gets left at a cliff-hanger, it's entertaining but a little weird to jump back north and see what's going on elsewhere.

What I will say about this book is Cook's writing has definitely improved. I felt like the narrative flowed a lot better and it was easier for me to get invested in the story than it was for me in the first anthology. I was actually really curious about what the big mystery surrounding Khatovar was and started putting the clues together to come to the same conclusion Lady did, maybe only a little ahead of her. There were some plot twists that were a little odd and some things I didn't fully understand, but I think overall these books were an improvement.

Other than that? There's not a lot I can say. These books were good, and I liked them. Cook does a really good job of making his universe realistic while also incorporating fantasy elements and lots of high magic. I can definitely see, especially with Taglios, where he's borrowing from real-life to create cultures for his world, but plenty of authors do that so I'm hardly critiquing him for that.

Cook has definitely left me curious about what will happen to the Black Company and if they'll ever reach Khatovar and discover their past. Hopefully it'll be less than three years before I pick up the next anthology in the series. If you like fantasy, adventure, and something a little different then this is definitely worth checking out.

- Kalpar

Chronicles of the Black Company, by Glen Cook

This week I'm taking a look at Chronicles of the Black Company, once again an anthology, in this case collecting the first three novels of the Black Company series, The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose, in one volume. For my readers who are unaware, the Black Company follows the adventures of a group of mercenaries, the titular Black Company. The first novel has the Company travel across the ocean to far northern lands and enter the employ of the Lady, a powerful sorceress who is attempting to crush a growing rebellion against her rule. As such these books are told more from the “bad guys” perspective, sort of like if there was a book that talked purely about Tolkien's orcs. It's an interesting take on a fantasy setting and definitely adds a twist to the pretty worn out monomyth we're all familiar with by now.

Unfortunately, the first book is pretty rough overall and it's not until the second book that I felt things started to improve. The books are (mostly) told from the perspective of Croaker, physician and historian for the Black Company. Unfortunately, in my opinion, Glen Cook cannot write first-person narration well. I say this because while the first book is written entirely in first-person, the second book alternates between first and third-person and I definitely thought the third-person sections were much better. By the third book Cook has gotten much better and the first-person segments are much more readable, which is good because Cook seems determined to keep this a largely first-person narrative. It just seems a shame that a story could potentially be made better simply by shifting the perspective. Fortunately Cook seems to have gotten a handle on first-person narration, which hopefully will show in later books.

Another issue that I found myself lamenting throughout the first book was that it suffered extensively from telling the reader rather than showing the reader. For example, the imperial forces get pushed back by the rebels and seem to constantly be doing a fighting retreat. This is in spite of the fact that Croaker keeps telling us the Black Company meets nothing but success on its campaigns. We're told the Black Company succeeds, sometimes shown that it does, and then told that they're retreating, and shown parts of that. I was wondering what the heck was going on to make the imperials loose ground on every front like that. Did they simply not have enough resources? Was the cost of victory so high as to make continued campaigns impossible? Was imperial occupation so harsh that it drove the population solidly into the rebel camp? TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON!! I desperately wanted to know more about the bigger picture, and Croaker isn't just a private soldier so he's privy to at least some of the information and would be able to enlighten us, but he doesn't.

My other real big issue with show don't tell was when Croaker kept saying that the rebels were just as bad, if not worse than the imperials. I had been informed by the venerable TV Tropes that this series operates on the premise that a typical fantasy story like Lord of the Rings is white-washing propaganda written for the heroes' side and Black Company serves as a more honest account from the “villains'” perspective. And the book sort of touches on that when the Lady asks Croaker to record a mostly impartial version of events so she isn't maligned by future historians, but we're never shown how the rebels are worse than the imperials. And I think that would make for a really interesting novel. Rebels that ruthlessly execute any imperial prisoners they take, as well as execute loyal imperial sympathizers. Rebels that are so poorly organized and extremely mismanaged that they actually make the economic situation much worse for the common person who thrived under the stability of the empire. Stuff like that. But instead we're just told by Croaker, who being in imperial service isn't exactly an impartial observer. I feel like this was an excellent opportunity for Cook that was not fully utilized.

I will admit that in my own way, I've come to care about the characters by the end of the third book and so I'm most likely going to come back. Hopefully the series will get better as Cook's writing skills improve and maybe there will be more fleshing out. I'm at least hopeful.

- Kalpar